I didn't want to hear him say something about how much of a mistakeour kisshad been, because while it was true, I just didn't want to hear it from his mouth. I couldn't handle the rejection.
So I did the only thing I thought could save both of our minds at that moment. I backed out of the office and closed the door behind me.
Slim wheeled his chair over to my section the moment I'd planted my butt on my own, curling my lips behind my teeth in hopes that they'd stopped tingling.
I had a feeling they wouldn't, but a girl could dream.
"You look—," he ran his eyes over my face slowly, "weird."
I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. If I looked at him dead on, I'd probably turn red or blurt out what had just happened. That was a terrible idea. So I settled for a soft, "Huh."
Slim made a humming noise in his throat, still looking at me a little too closely. "Anything you want totell me?"
See what I mean? Nosey. Nosey with a capital letter. "Nope."
"Hmm," he hummed again before sitting back in the chair. "We all knew it was going to happen. I'm just kind of surprised it took so long." Slim spun in a circle. "And I'm surprised you don't want to tell me."
"Tell you what?" I asked him carefully. These guys were piranhas for information.
He smiled all slick and casual, spinning in a circle again. "You know what."
"No, I don't, Slim."
He cocked an eyebrow. "Yeah, you do, Ris." That slick smile widened. "He's pissing all over you." He shrugged. "It was about time."
Things went from bad to worse when Blake piped in from behind the divider. "Boy's probably got blue balls by now."
Cue my choke.
“I’m going to poison you both,” I started to threaten them.
Luckily—maybe not so luckily—the door to the shop opened before I could finish the growing list of things I was planning on doing to my friendsslash coworkersand a man stepped in. It was Dex's next appointment.
Shit.
He must have been looking at the camera in his office because the office door slammed shut not even three seconds after I greeted the man. The music wasn't on yet, so I could hear Dex's heavy footfalls on the tile. Then, I heard him greet his client and point him in the direction of the bathroom so they could start their session afterward.
I kept my eyes trained on the computer in front of me, trying so friggin' hard not to gulp and bring attention to myself when I was confused beyond belief at whatSlimhad just said and what happened in the office. I mean, I knew Dex cared about me. But...what the hell wasthat?
You're an idiot, Iris. Of course I was. The second after I asked myself that, I remembered his face at the lake. His face and his touches in half a dozen other circumstances that I didn't understand completely.
I didn't get a chance to think about it anymore because I saw that black-shirted blur move toward me the moment his customer was out of view. He didn't kneel down like he had the day before when he gave me the community college catalog but instead bent over at the waist, his bottom lip so close I could feel it on my earlobe.
"You and me are gonna have a talk later, Ritz,” he warned.
Chapter Twenty-Five
"I'm really thinking that those douchers won't do anything to me if I stay at your house," I argued with Sonny as I shifted my leg under me on the bumpy couch at Mayhem.
The television was on in the background, and I could hear the sound of an audience laughing even as he sighed. "Not happening, kid."
"It'll be fine." I wasn't above begging. Especially when my lips still tingled from Dex's mouth. Hours later. Pathetic."I'll lock the doors and everything."
The son of a gun didn't even bother thinking about the suggestion. "No."
"Sonny." I also wasn't above whining a little. I figured it was fine. I'd never whined much as a kid, I could get away with it as an adult.
"Ris, we haven't found him. Do you know what that tells me? That he's in deeper shit than we know. If it was just the Reapers he owed money to, he wouldn't be going through so much trouble to hide from everyone," he explained. He sounded so tired, I immediately felt bad for stressing him out with my stupid begging.
